Inter-sport support shown by SHU athletes

Seton Hall sporting events attract all different types of people. Parents, friends, classmates and overall fans fill the stands, but there are other groups in the crowd that stick out. These crowds are made up of different Pirate athletes.

Athletes at Seton Hall have made a habit of supporting different athletes at their games by at- tending most of the home events for the different teams.

Over the fall season, crowds have emerged at both men’s and women’s soccer games as well as adding to the packed Walsh Gymnasium for volleyball.

Noah Yanchulis, a sophomore on the swimming team, tries to attend a majority of the home events with his fellow teammates.

The team often makes plans together as to which games they are going to attend together.

“Sometimes we’re just like ‘Hey we’re going to the game’ and everyone decides to go,” he said. “We try to go to as many events as we can, but I think volleyball is the best.”

Yanchulis said he has a lot of fun at the games but at the same time, he feels it is just as important to support his fellow student-athletes.

“It’s a lot of fun, we just like to go to support our teams,” he said. “It’s exciting, especially when we’re beating other schools in the Big East. But we just want to be there with everyone cheering them on.”

The tennis team also tries to make going to different games a habit. Isabell Klingert, a senior on the team, goes to a majority of the home games with her teammates whenever their busy schedules allow for it.

“We normally go to all the home games, but sometimes it collides with us traveling or us practicing,” she said.“But other than that we normally always try and go. If there’s a game going on after we have practice, we usually just all go together afterwards.”

With tennis playing off-campus in the past, it has not always been easy for regular fans, let alone other athletes, to come out and support the team.

This year, the team has begun to play on the newly renovated courts at Ivy Hill Park, right be- hind Seton Hall.

“It was harder with tennis last year,” Klingert said.

“Some girls on the golf team came to our matches last year to watch us, but we usually always played away. This year was a little bit different because we actually have courts on campus now. Next weekend we play Fordham here, so I hope a lot of people show up to that one.”

Athletes going to different athletes games has helped some international players come together.

“I’m from Germany and there’s some Germans on the men’s soccer team, so we all relate to each other even if we play a different sport,” Klingert said. “So it’s basically like we’re all in it together.”

Along with fans and students, athletes have the opportunity to go to all the different sporting events at Seton Hall and find a new favorite sport to watch.

“I really like to watch soccer, because my country is in love with soccer, but I’ve never really watched a baseball game until I came here,” Klingert said. “It’s actually pretty fun to watch.”

Student-athletes get a lot of support on and off the court/field, but the support they get from one another seems to be what they value the most.

Olivia Mulvihill can be reached at olivia.mulvihill@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @OliviaMulvihill.